Help
by Reddlemagne-DeWhimsy
Summary: Every human has cried, at least once in their life.    But some cries were always louder than the others.   The one's who needed it the most...  The cry for help...
1. Awakening

In the foggy realms of darkness, it heard an echoing cry. It had heard many before, more than ever could be imagined. The human race was such a sad, gloomy race, but nonetheless, it knew this particular cry all too well.

Knowing what it had to do, It quickly sprang into action, fixing the cry's location in its mind, and beginning its move.

Every human has cried, at least once in their life.

But some cries were always louder than the others.

The one's who needed it the most...

The cry for help...

-o-

Madotsuki was crying.

Her sleep had been fitful, filled with nightmares.

She awoke with tears in her eyes, and sobbed to herself quietly. The nightmares had brought up bad memories, memories she wished could be erased.

It had been almost a year ago when it happened, but it still hurt to think about it. How she wished she could turn back time...

Drying her tears, she decided to get up, figuring she wasn't going to get back to sleep anyway. She dragged herself into a sitting position on her bed, and slipped her feet into the slippers by her bedside.

Madotsuki was unfortunately plagued with a photographic memory, meaning she could recall, in exact detail, what her nightmares were about.

Letting the dream play through again, her eyes once again filled with tears.

"Why...why did this have to happen?" she whispers to herself.

After sitting for some time, Madotsuki decided she should try and eat something, and at the least, splash some water on her face to wash away her tears.

She stood up and made her way to the door. There, she felt that odd hesitancy, a sort of vulnerability taking hold, having to will herself to open the door.

Making her way down the hall, she recounted each and every exact picture and sculpture leading from her room, to the bathroom. Clay frog, odd tiki mask, wooden bird, portrait of a dark and misty forest, crude drawing Tsuki had done of her mother, and the final one, which gave her pause, a photograph of her and her parents.

Madotsuki's parents had passed away when she was 5 years old, having died in a house fire on the eve of her parent's anniversary. Some hooligan had gotten too drunk, and thinking it was a good idea, began to light off fireworks nearby. This started a small fire, which eventually became a huge blaze that had nearly consumed Tsuki's entire neighborhood.

Having done her morning pause over the picture, same one she did every time she left her room, she first made her way to the bathroom, the light flickering on.

In the glaring white light, Tsuki first took a look into the mirror. What she saw was the same face she saw every morning: A hollow, blank look, brown hair lying lank and tangled, eyes that had once been bright and full of life, now dull and listless. The only change to this morning was to add "red and puffy eyes" to the list.

Feeling the shock as the cold water splashed onto her face, Tsuki briefly wondered what would happen if one morning, she splashed her face, and instead of seeing her usual lost look, she could catch a fleeting glance of her old self, if ever so briefly.

Flicking the light off, Tsuki made her way to the kitchen, and fixed herself a bowl of cold cereal. Glancing at the fridge, she caught sight of a note on the fridge, and briefly stopped stirring her cereal around to read it.

"Short business trip. Won't be back until Thursday. Left some money for you in the usual place if the food runs out in the fridge. Please take care of yourself until then. Love, Your Uncle."

Tsuki lived with her uncle, and had done so ever since the fire had claimed her parents. Tsuki's uncle was her mother's brother, and the only family Tsuki had left.

After reading the note, Tsuki thought aloud about how she wished her uncle was around more. She knew her uncle loved her, and had done nothing but care for her, but due to the nature of his work, he was seldom at home, leaving Tsuki all by herself more often than not.

Her voice echoing uselessly through the hall, she suddenly felt heavy, the thought of being alone again somehow taking hold of her mind.

The thought of her uncle being gone and the recounting of her dream made her wish that _she_ was still around...

Feeling that odd numb, empty feeling take hold, she no longer wanted the cereal.

She dumped the cereal in the sink, watching with mild interest as the disposal unit made short work of the soggy concoction, and ran the water to wash the bowl.

Having emptied and washed her dish, she made her way back to her room. Once again, that feeling of vulnerability took hold, prompting Tsuki to swiftly open her door, dash inside, and slam the door shut.

She stood there for a few minutes. After letting the feeling of safety take hold of her mind, she once again made her way to her bed. Instead of going back to sleep, she sat down next to the desk and pulled out a picture frame from the bottom drawer.

She knew she would regret it, but after the nightmare she had, she needed reassurance that the person in the picture was real.

She saw that same smile she knew and loved. She saw that long blonde ponytail that adorned her head. She saw the green sweater she had always worn, along with the knit skirt. She also saw herself, smiling along right beside her, both of them holding hands, and standing on the bridge that overlooked the nearby park.

Tsuki stared at the picture until her memories of that day began to play out in her mind, causing her to smile briefly. She was real. Her memories would not lie. Her brief smile soon faltered, the thoughts of what happened dragging her back to reality, and soon she was left feeling even more hollow and heavy than before.

Sighing, she gently placed the picture back into the drawer, and she laid her head down on the desk, not really wanting to do anything anymore.

She could feel herself drifting off once again, and she hoped that she would have a pleasant dream, for once. Before she finally slipped off, she muttered one word under her breath.

"Poniko..."

=0=

**Author's Notes: Welcome welcome, to my next writing project, The Yume Nikki-based fanfic: "Help". Being my second fic, and being released alongside "Noland", it may be more sporatic than my still incomplete first fic, but nonetheless, I do hope you enjoy it. I also hope that no one is too bothered that I use the nickname "Tsuki" as a shorthand for Madotsuki, but if so, I can always change it. Please let me know in the reviews, as well as any other thoughts, critiques, or anything else. Another change is the chapters will be relatively shorter than Noland, which means I'll be able to dash off chapters quicker whenever I feel sudden inspiration. Anyhoo, enough of me rambling. So until next time, dear reader.**


	2. Lucid

It had arrived.

All that would be left for it now was to observe.

Soon, child.

Soon.

-o-

Madotsuki felt herself surrounded by darkness. Everywhere she looked, all she could see was inky blackness.

"What do I do now?" She thought aloud.

She floated through this, eventually feeling herself fading from consciousness. She didn't care. So long as the dream was different from her last one, she didn't mind where she ended up.

Eventually, she felt herself become heavy once again. Opening her eyes and letting her eyes take focus, she saw that she was resting upon a wooden surface. Rousing herself, Tsuki realized she was lying on her desk. Had she woken up once again?

Sitting up, and pushing herself off of her chair, she stood up, and carefully looked over her room. There appeared to be nothing out of place. Her room was still the same quiet sanctuary it had always been.

Glancing over everything one last time, Tsuki decided that since she was awake, that perhaps she could pass the time until she felt tired again by playing some games.

Walking over to her TV, she made sure that her favorite game NASU was inserted. She had other games but, for some reason, the repetitive gameplay of NASU seemed to take her mind off of everything.

Only when she switched the TV on did she realize that she was not awake. A great eyeball was staring back at her, blinking every now and again.

Tsuki took a couple of steps back, a pang of fear making her heart flutter.

The initial shock wearing off, Tsuki walked up to the TV, and attempted to change the channels. On each one, the eye continued to stare back.

"Perhaps I am still dreaming..." Tsuki reached over to switch the TV off, when suddenly the eye disappeared from the screen, and a new image showed up.

It was Tsuki, 6 years old, sitting alone under a tree amid a playground full of other kids.

"I remember this. This is from my old grade school..."

The screen soon began to shift from still image, into motion.

-0-

_ Madotsuki was eating alone, sitting out away from the other kids on the playground. Most of the kids had already eaten, and were now running about, playing on the playground equipment, or otherwise playing games of a sort. Madotsuki, age 6, found them to be too noisy, too foreign. She felt too different from the other kids, who were always so energetic, always so happy... _

_ She wondered if the other kids still had their parents, if they led happy lives, as well as wondering if she still had her own parents, what could have been..._

_ Before her thoughts could spread further, she heard a voice behind her: "H-hey there. Mind if I sit beside you?"_

_ Snapping out of her thoughts, and catching her off guard, Madotsuki said the only thing that popped into her mind: "Yeah, sure."_

_ "Thank you."_

_ Glancing over at the newcomer, Madotsuki noticed the blonde hair, and briefly remembered her introduction to the class this morning. However, she couldn't quite remember her name._

_ "Sorry to interrupt you like that, but I noticed you sitting here by yourself, and I wondered if you were okay."_

_ Not really knowing what to say, Madotsuki muttered "Um...I-I'm fine..."_

_ Still staring intently at Madotsuki, the blonde girl briefly considered trying to probe further, but uncertainty of upsetting the girl won out. _

_ Instead, she said "Well, if you say so. My name's Poniko. What's yours?"_

_ Still unsure what to say or do, Madotsuki kept her eyes on the ground, and kept quiet, wondering what the girl would do next._

_ "Hey, there's no reason to be afraid. I'm not going to do anything to you. Can you at least look away from the ground?"_

_ Still staring at the ground, Madotsuki shook her head from side to side._

_ Looking over at the swings, and noticing two empty spots, Poniko reached over to Madotsuki's hand and said, "Come on, let's go play on the swings. There's plenty room for both of us!"_

_ Without giving Madotsuki a chance, the strange blonde girl had grabbed her hand and was now dragging her into the playground. "W-wait! What if we get hurt on the swings?"_

_ Madotsuki certainly wasn't afraid of getting hurt, but being dragged along by this strange girl she had met no more than 5 minutes ago was certainly too much to take in at once. She could feel __herself wanting to shrink away from all the noise and commotion._

_ "Don't worry; I'll look out for you. It'll be fun! Now come on, let's go already!"_

_ Unable to think of any other excuses to try and get away from the strange girl, Madotsuki gave in, and allowed herself to be dragged over to the swings._

_ "You know how to push yourself, right?"_

_ "N-not really."_

_ "Haven't you ever gotten on a swing before?"_

_ "My mother always pushed me. I never learned how to...um... keep myself swinging." She couldn't help but be embarrassed at her quiet voice._

_ "Ah, alright. That's no problem. I'll push you to start you off, then just watch me, okay?"_

_ She gave a small nod. Madotsuki took her seat on the end swing and soon, with Poniko's help, she was airborne._

_ Moments later, Poniko had already scrambled to her own swing, calling out from a high arc in the air. "Hey! Kick your legs like this!"_

_ Madotsuki watched as Poniko drifted back and forth through the air and swung her feet._

_ "Try and time it to the swing's momentum to keep going, aright?"_

_ All Tsuki could do was nod with a smile. Poniko was right, this was fun._

_ Soon, all Madotsuki could think of was the rush of the wind as she moved up and down._

_ Soon, the bell rang, and both she and Poniko had to get off the swings. _

_ "H-hey. You were right. That was actually fun."_

_ "See? I told you so. So what were you so gloomy about anyways?"_

_ "Um, if it's alright, I don't really want to talk about it..."_

_ "Well, alright then."_

_ The two were quiet for a moment, when Madotsuki suddenly said_

_ ""M-Madotsuki..."_

_ "Huh? What?"_

_ "M-my name's...Madotsuki..."_

_ "Oh! I think I'll call you Tsuki." The ponytailed girl gave off a bright smile._

_ "Um...sure." Why was she being so familiar?_

_ Once again, silence fell between the two._

_ "…If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing in Japan?"_

_ "Huh? Oh, right, the blonde hair. My folks actually moved here before I was born. My mother visited this place when she was a kid, and it left a big impression on her. My dad wasn't too sure about moving here, but apparently my mother can be pretty persuasive."_

_ "Ah, I-I see."_

_ Madotsuki and Poniko continued to quietly converse in this manner, at least until class started._

_-0-_

"I-I remember now...after that, we started to hang out together...but...why show me this now...?"

Tsuki could already feel the tears in her eyes.

"Why? Why did I need to be reminded of this? Poniko..."

Madotsuki sank to her knees.

-o-

It looked on, watching the girl sobbing.

It understood.

It was ready.

=0=

**Author's Notes: Greetings everyone. I decided to hammer out yet another chapter, as I didn't feel that the first chapter wasn't quite...meaty enough. Now, in an attempt to possibly explain why Tsuki only had NASU as her only game, I'm using some of my own personal experience with deep depression here. For the most part, some people with depression tend to do certain things repetitively, as a sort of coping mechanism. For me, back during the bad times, I used to play nothing but Super Smash Bros Melee against the AI ad nauseum. Part of why I did it was a way of turning my mind off, and getting away from the gloom and doom. Not too good of an explanation, but keep in mind I'm using my own experience with that, and I hope it doesn't bother you guys too much. As always, please leave any comments, thoughts, and criticisms in the reviews, and thanks to those who have already done so. I would also like to give my friend Kyro (AKA Yuber Trice) a huge thanks for help with this chapter. Thanks again for the quick work, good buddy. Anyhoo, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and as always, thanks for taking the time to read it!**


	3. Nexus

After shedding a few tears, Madotsuki eventually stood back up, faced the TV once again, which was now just the solitary eyeball, and switched it off. She wanted to wake up now, deciding that this dream wouldn't go anywhere worthwhile, but due to the nature of her sleep, she knew she would be stuck here for a while longer.

Sighing at the inevitability of her current predicament, she decided to first step onto the balcony, in hopes of some imagined fresh air. She stood outside, marveling at how her dreams could make the sky seem like dusk, while the sun was still high in the sky.

She sat down, and began to think about all the times she would sit out here, back in her room, when she was awake, and let her mind drift. She would think about how high up she was, how nobody could see her up here, and wonder at how others could continue going on with their lives, and why she bothered trying to continue living.

She knew that last question should have her worried, and she really should talk to someone about it, but who was there to talk to? Her parents were gone, her uncle was always away, and her only friend…

Sighing once again, Madotsuki stood up, left the strange sun to its business, and walked back inside.

Madotsuki wandered back over to her bed, thinking about just riding it out until she awoke by hiding in her dream bed, but she heard something coming from the door. A very deep, yet sad voice seemed to be calling out to her.

"Come now… child. Do not be sad. Please, join... us... over here."

Madotsuki peered at the door. The voice seemed…familiar.

"Come now, and wipe your…tears. Do not be afraid child, we merely wish to…"

The voice broke off for a moment. Tsuki could feel a tangible stillness.

"Help." and the moment was gone.

Standing up from her bed, she tentatively made her way to the door. Placing her hand on the doorknob, she whispered "W…will I…be okay?"

She heard a deep sigh, and then silence.

Not sure how to take the voice's departure, Madotsuki's hand left the doorknob. She briefly wondered what Poniko would do.

Madotsuki took a deep breath, grabbed the doorknob, and slowly turned it.

-o-

Madotsuki blinked. This wasn't her hallway back at home. She stood on the doorframe, and stared in at the sight outside. What looked like wooden structures were just sitting in a dark, almost void-like area.

Madotsuki took a step forward, her hand leaving the door frame, to try and get a better look. She noted that the wooden structures had the appearance of doors, and all seemed to have strange designs on them. She took a few more steps in, and jumped as the door she just stepped out of slammed shut behind her.

Panicking, she turned around, and scrabbled at the door knob, trying to get it open again. To her relief, she got it open, and her room was still where she left it.

Taking another deep breath, she stepped back, and let the door close again. Once again she tried to open it, and once again, it opened without resistance.

Madotsuki did this a few more times, until she was reassured that she wouldn't be stuck here, and continued into the room for further examination.

Walking up to the wooden structures, she did indeed confirm that they were doors, after looking on the other side of them, and seeing the doorknobs.

"How strange." she said aloud. "What could these be doing here?"

Madotsuki looked to the floor. She saw strange, looping, circular patterns etched into the floor, which itself seemed to be made from a cool, black, stone-like material. The patterns reminded her of Poniko's house, of the designs in her house…

-0-

"_Hurry!" Poniko said, waving at Madotsuki. "My house is this way!"_

_Madotsuki was out of breath. Trying to keep up with the energetic little blond was tiring her out. _

_"W-wait! Can you…please slow down?"_

_Oblivious to Tsuki's plight, Poniko said "It's just a bit further! Come on!"._

'_Perhaps agreeing to go to Poniko's wasn't such a good idea' Tsuki thought to herself, unable to talk aloud due to her lungs burning in her attempt to keep up._

_Madotsuki finally caught up to Poniko, who had stopped in front of a large structure._

"_We're here! We're here! Let's go on inside!"_

_*huff huff* "Just…" *huff* "give me a moment, please." *huff*_

_Finally catching her breath, Tsuki followed her overactive new friend inside._

"_Welcome to my house! We're glad to have you here!" _

_As soon as Madotsuki's eyes adjusted, she noticed that the walls were covered in unusual patterns and designs. She was trying to remember where she had seen them before…_

"_Ah, so you must be Poniko's friend, Madotsuki, was it?"_

_Caught off guard, Tsuki quickly located the source of the new voice, and was further put off guard when she spotted what appeared to be a much bigger version of Poniko._

"_Hello there, and welcome. I am Poniko's mother. You can call me Karen."_

_Quickly composing herself, Tsuki replied "Um, it's an honor to be here."_

"_Poniko has told us so much about you Madotsuki. It's good that she has a friend to help look out for her."_

"_A-Ah of course." Madotsuki said in a quiet voice._

"_Hm, you're a bit timid, aren't you? Well how about I make us all some tea, and relax a bit. Does that sound good?"_

_Madotsuki nodded. After her desperate run after Poniko, some tea would sound quite lovely right now._

"_All right. I'll call you when the tea is ready. You and Poniko can go and play for now."_

"_Come on, Tsuki, let's go out back, and play. I just got a new football we can play with! Do you know how to play?" Poniko hefted the black and white spotted ball in her arm._

"_Um, a little bit. T-the kids in my old neighborhood used to play it out on the streets."_

_Her eyes once again found themselves trained on the wallpaper designs. Noticing Madotsuki's line of sight, Poniko asked Madotsuki "Like the design? It's my mom's favorite! She even has our carpets in these designs!"_

"_Um, what are they?"_

"_Haven't you heard of the ancient Aztecs? They had such nifty designs, and the coolest games! Didja know they had one with a large rubber ball, and all they could use was their hips to bounce it?"_

"_Um, no, I haven't heard of them. Sorry."_

"_Ah, no need to be sorry. My mom says that it's good to learn new things, and so you have learned something new from me! I can tell you more about them while we play, okay?"_

_Madotsuki nodded, then felt the corners of her mouth lift up a bit._

"_T-that sounds nice. Shall we go and play now?"_

"_That's more like it! Let's go!"_

_Madotsuki felt herself being dragged off again, but rather than that fear and anxiety she always felt around others, she instead felt…safe. _

_Madotsuki thought 'Friend…you are my friend, Poniko, I hope I can be as good of a friend to you, as you are for me.' _

_-0-_

The memory passed just as quickly as it had arrived. Madotsuki felt the tears well up once again. She quickly made her way over to the closest door, twisted the knob, forced it open, and stepped in.

She didn't feel like crying anymore.

=0=

**Author's Notes: Hello hello, it has been quite awhile, hasn't it? I do apologize for literally dropping off the Earth for the longest time, but I needed the time off in order to get myself fixed up once and for all. For those who don't know, I suffer from chronic pain, on top of lingering depression. I have recently gotten both of these problems taken care of. And now, besides enjoying being able to move around once again, I am now able to continue with my writings. Also, I'd like to say to Ashitanokioku who asked if I was going to continue. Quite obviously, the answer's yes, and I'm glad you like the fic. So for those who have been waiting for me to continue, I apologize, and I hope this chapter makes up for the wait. As always, I thank my good friend Yuber_Trice for acting as my editor, and thank the readers for taking the time to enjoy my readings.**


	4. Numbers (pt 1)

As Tsuki stepped in, she felt something _tug_ at her, then all of a sudden, she felt the tug become a jerk. A brief surge of panic overtook everything else as she felt her feet leave the ground. Suddenly, she was spinning; spinning into the inky darkness before her. She faintly heard the door behind her slam shut. Unable to repress the panic, she closed her eyes and prepared to scream. Before she could do so, however, she felt her feet touch the ground and the spinning stopped.

Eyes still closed, and with great uncertainty, lifted her foot up, then down, to reaffirm that she was, in fact on the ground. Or at least whatever would quality for ground in this dream.

Her foot met with a faint thump.

Tsuki breathed a brief sigh of relief.

'Okay,' Tsuki thought. 'My foot didn't go through, or make an unpleasant noise. That's good. Do I dare open my eyes?'

Hesitantly, Madotsuki opened one of her eyes, then both, and took in the sights of this strange place she now found herself in.

To her right and left were green walls, almost an unpleasant green, that was adorned with wallpaper of strange faces. The walls were off in that they seemed to branch off into strange angles, forming a sort of cone that started small at the door, and led off to two hallways.

The hallway to the left continued onward for a bit, leading to a corner she couldn't quite see past. The hall on the right stopped abruptly, cutting to a 90 degree straightaway, of which she couldn't quite see the end of from where she was standing.

To her back was the door she just entered. She shook her head, deciding that she wasn't quite ready to go back through and go through the spinning again. She took a few brisk steps forward. She then proceeded to look down.

Madotsuki realized that this was a mistake. Under her feet, a mirror of what was going on around her appeared to be scrolling, almost machine-like, interspersed with strange red numbers, some longer, some shorter, but seemingly random. Madotsuki couldn't make heads or tails of it, but immediately felt a sense of dread seize her.

She wanted to wake up already.

Trying to decide whether exploring further, or putting up with going through the door, Madotsuki sat down, feeling a bit overwhelmed, and close to tears.

"What do I do? This place…it's not…"

Madotsuki struggled to describe what exactly the room was.

"…it's not…real. It's not real. There's no way this is real…"

A sudden thought occurred to Madotsuki.

"Wait, so if it's not real, nothing can hurt me, right?"

Madotsuki stood up at this.

"Yes, it can't hurt me. This is a dream. This is a dream!"

Bolstered by this, Madotsuki took a few steps forward, and looked at the wall next to her. She tentatively poked the strange face with her finger. The face, thankfully, was 2 dimensional.

Feeling a bit more brave, she pressed her hand against the wall. Besides feeling a bit cold, the wall felt solid.

"Okay, you can do this. I can get through this."

Madotsuki took a few more steps and continued a ways to the hallway on her left, until she entered what looked like a huge, empty room. There appeared to be more of those red numbers here, spelling out even longer numbers than the spot by the doorway.

Madotsuki made a small whimpering noise at the sight of this, swallowed the fear and dread she felt at such a huge, apparently empty room, and stepped out from the hallway.

Nothing happened.

"O-okay. I just need to remember where this hallway is. Okay, I can do this…"

Madotsuki took a few more steps out into the room.

Nothing happened.

Madotsuki proceeded to walk towards the middle of the room. 'Why is it so empty?'

After a bit, she spied a wall ahead of her.

Deciding to walk around the wall, she slowly peeked around the corner after hiking around the wall.

Nothing happened.

Madotsuki saw what appeared to be an entrance to somewhere ahead of her, and deciding that there wasn't anything here out to hurt her, made her way over to the entrance.

Within, she saw water that was not water. The "water" appeared to be made of numbers that "flowed" to her right.

She decided this would make for a good spot to sit and collect herself.

"You know, I think my dreams are rather boring." Madotsuki mumbled to herself.

She sat for a bit, poking at the number "water", noting that it still rippled like water did.

"This reminds me of that bad anime Poniko used to watch all the time…what was it called? It had to do with the world being a digital construct, and the ones who could "see" through the illusion were the only ones who could save it.

The hero was a teenage college student who just woke up one day and could "see" the digital world for what it was. He eventually ran into a woman fighting some kind of glitch being and through sheer dumb luck, managed to help her defeat it.

She offered to explain what he was, and how he could help keep this world from becoming undone by the "glitches", beings who at one point could see through the world, just like they could, but instead used this to exploit the nature of the world for power. This "power" would usually corrupt whatever environment they happened to find themselves in.

It was such a stupid, corny show, and yet…Poniko would never miss an episode…"

Madotsuki felt her eyes growing hot, threatening to release more tears.

"…Why am I even thinking about this?"

She stood up, trying to compose herself.

"I…guess I'm just trying to pass time until I wake up…"

She stopped, frowning.

"This is stupid."

As she was about to turn around, she heard an odd splashing noise that seemed to originate along the stream to her left.

Immediately trying to find the source of the splashing, Madotsuki was greeted by the sight of a _thing_ in the water. It reminded her heavily of the mask from some famicom game she played, something about an evil mask trying to wipe out the planet, and the hero had 3 days to save it all.

For whatever reason, it appeared to be waving at her. Not sure what to do and feeling that sense of dread fill her, she waved back, turned away from it, and bolted all the way across the empty room back to the hallway.

Feeling that was enough exploration for one dream, she made her way to the door she entered from, grabbed the handle, and pulled it open.

She had forgotten about the spinning.

-0-

Landing once again, slightly dizzy and disoriented, Madotsuki felt herself relax.

She was back in the room full of doors once again.

Without a second glance, she made her way over to the door that would take her back to her room, wrenched the door open, and stumbled back into the comfort of her "room".

This elation lasted, until she remembered that she was unable to wake up, and would still have to wait until she woke up.

Sighing, she made her way to her desk, and rested her head upon it's wooden surface, only to start as she felt her forehead stick to something lying there.

Sitting up properly, there appeared to be a diary of sorts resting on her desk.

'Um, I don't think this was here when I left.' Madotsuki thought.

With nothing better to do she opened it up, and thumbed through the pages. The words appeared to be written by her hand, and in bulleted form. One of these pages appeared to be loose and had a crude drawing of an egg. Underneath the drawing in tiny writing appeared to be some instructions for something.

One stood out in particular.

"If at any time you wish to awaken, simply place your fingers on your face, and pinch u*ing t*e *** key."

At least that's what it looked like. The end was smudged, and she wasn't sure if that last word was actually "key".

Deciding that the last bit wasn't important, and waking up now being the more pressing matter, Madotsuki brought her fingers up to her face, and sharply squeezed…


	5. Numbers (pt 2)

The effect was nearly instantaneous: Madotsuki felt herself fading out from her surroundings, and a sudden, weighty, lead-like feeling permeating all of her limbs, followed by a rather loud sound. It made her a bit nervous…

Madotsuki then realized that the sound was snoring. She apparently snored like a chainsaw.

Groaning aloud, Madotsuki rolled back over so that she was no longer face down in her pillow and decided to lie there for a second to try and process what just happened.

Such as how she went from the desk, to her bed.

'Something…something about Poniko…and rooms, a weird room in particular…numbers…something to do with numbers…'

Madotsuki rolled these thoughts along her mind, slowly bringing to light what had happened. "Why did I run away? It was just an empty room…right? Nothing to be so afraid of…I'm just a coward."

She then moved to a sitting position at the foot of her bed, lifted her arm to rub her eyes while yawning wide, and paused mid-yawn at the peculiar object now residing on her desk.

She recognized it almost immediately. It was the same diary she had used to escape from her dream earlier.

She tentatively picked it up, flipping it around, noting it now had "Dream Diary" written as the title on top. On the bottom was "By Madotsuki".

It was fairly weighty in hand and looked like it could hold a year's worth of writings, at most.

Madotsuki opened the page and instead of the written words, blank pages greeted her instead. Flipping through, she found that every page was now blank and that the instructions page she had gotten earlier wasn't anywhere to be found.

'W-well, let's think about this logically…m-maybe Uncle came back early, came to check on me, saw me sleeping at my desk, moved me to my bed, and left the diary for me. Yeah, that's got to be it!'

Feeling relieved that she figured out how the mysterious diary had gotten there and the question of how she ended up back in her bed, she decided to go out of her room and see if her Uncle was still there, or if not, if he had left her any notes.

She got up from her bed and made her way to the door. Just as she was turning the knob...

"Why do I feel so tired all of a sudden? I think I'll just lie down for a bit…"

Changing her mind about checking on her uncle, Madotsuki made her way back to the bed, figuring the feeling would pass if she could just lie down for a moment.

This would pass. It usually would. This wasn't the first time this had happened.

She dragged herself over to her bed and felt the familiar confines of her mattress, pillow resting gently against her head.

'Just for a second.'

She knew the feeling would pass, and then she could go and check…

-0-

Madotsuki's eyes opened with a start.

She appeared to be resting on her desk once again. Had she dozed off again, without knowing?

She quickly sat up, and realized that she had fallen asleep on top of the diary.

'W-was I dreaming…?' Madotsuki thought to herself, wondering if she really had awakened, and if the whole thing, strange rooms and all, had just been one long, protracted dream.

Yes, it was all a dream…

A penny dropped.

Madotsuki froze.

If this had been a dream…

Why was the dream diary still there?

Suitably unnerved, Madotsuki got up from her desk, took a few steps away from the diary, took a few deep breaths, and tried to figure out what was going on.

"Okay…let's try and think here…" Madotsuki said to herself, trying to reassure the panic now rising in her chest.

"How can I tell if this is a dream, or if I'm awake?"

Pacing around a bit, Madotsuki felt something poking her in the pockets of her sweater. Stopping in place for a moment, she dug in her pockets and pulled out the offending object.

It was the picture of the egg from her dream…

"So, was that a dream, or was the waking up part a dream?" Madotsuki said aloud holding the lone page, noting that the egg seemed to be in greater detail.

'Hmm? Was that text there before?'

"Check characters to gain new effects by pres**ng th* ***** *ey"

Not sure what to make of it, she flipped the paper over.

On the back appeared to be some kind of crude diagram, apparently drawn with crayons:

"My room - Get in bed -Dream - Wake up (read other side to figure out how)"

There was an arrow that appeared to loop around back to "Get in bed", indicating that if she wanted to dream again, she would need to get back into the bed.

'What does this all mean?' Madotsuki thought. 'New effects? Waking up? W-what's going on here?'

She folded the paper and jammed it back into her pocket.

Feeling just a bit overwhelmed, she decided to step out on her balcony to get some air.

Once there, she realized that she had to be in a dream once again.

The sun appeared to be rising from the west, and the stars appeared to be out still. That wasn't what caught her attention, however.

Down below, there appeared to be several dapper gentlemen, all wearing black suits, and almost all grotesquely thin.

As she watched, one of them noticed her, turned towards her, and to her horror, realized that they didn't appear to have faces.

It waved, and appeared to wish for her to join them down below.

Pausing for a moment, taking in the sights, Madotsuki started snickering.

The snickering turned to laughter.

The laughter turned to cackling.

The cackling took a turn for the unhinged.

Tsuki took a few breaths, gasping for air.

Once her laughter had subsided and she realized why she was laughing, she was suddenly seized by the urge to walk to her desk and smash her head into it repeatedly until rationality took over.

Instead, she locked herself where she stood, waiting until the feeling passed, trying to stop the deranged smile that had plastered itself upon her face. Rather than continue to watch the strange sight, she turned around and went back through the balcony door as fast as humanly possible.

She locked the door, paused for a moment, waited for her gaze to settle back on the dream diary, and at the top of her voice...

"WHY AM I HERE?!"

She made her way over to the center of her room and sat down.

'Why did I laugh? What was that feeling?' Madotsuki was afraid of the brief spark of hysteria at the mere sight of the gaunt gentlemen outside.

'I think there may be something wrong with me…'

Madotsuki took a few deep breaths.

'Well, even if I am going crazy, it's not like I can do anything about it until Uncle comes back…'

At the thought of this, She felt hot around the eyes again and knew the tears would come.

'He promised. He promised that after this last meeting…he would be here…for…'

Madotsuki Felt the tears flow.

"I…I know I'm alone. I know there's something wrong with me…but…what can I do? All I can do is just keep myself busy…just try and hold on until Uncle comes home…I can't handle this right now, I don't want to be alone…not in this place…not back in my room…I just…want these feelings to go away…"

She cried until she felt her eyes dry up, and the only thing left was dry sobs.

"I…really am pathetic. I can't even keep it together…"

Tentatively, she stood back up. Just to try and give herself something to do, she walked over to her desk, sat down, picked up the dream diary, and thumbed through its pages once more.

At least it was something to do.

The diary was no longer empty, instead filled with words recounting her time in one of the doors. She read about how she had entered one of the rooms at random, how the door scared her with the spinning, and just as quickly, dropping her off in the strange room, with the numbers.

The more she read, the more she realized that she had not really explored that room thoroughly.

Perhaps she might be able to find some answers if she did.

"…S-should I try and go back…?" Madotsuki said to no one in particular. It would certainly beat waiting here until she woke up.

As much as she wanted to do…well, SOMETHING, she was also worried that any more disturbing sights would trigger more bouts of…whatever that was.

What to do?

Madotsuki had a sudden thought.

'Wait…didn't the page say something about waking up?'

Pulling the page back out, she quickly found the text detailing how to wake up here. The end part was still partially blurred and almost impossible to read.

"Oh right, just pinch myself. I'll need to try and remember that next time…"

Wait, would there be a "next time"?

She mulled over the idea.

She could just pinch herself now and she would be back in her room…and then what?

Play NASU? She already had the highest score.

Read a book? She had read every single book on her bookshelf what seemed hundreds of times.

Go outside? The thought of doing so caused her heart to pound. It didn't feel like she belonged out there anymore.

Sighing, Madotsuki realized that despite the unease, fear, and…whatever that feeling was earlier, that this place seemed to draw out, this was the most interesting thing that was currently going on in her life.

She felt a twinge of sadness.

The more she thought about it…

She had nowhere else to go.

"Well…I can just pinch myself if I run into any trouble here, right?" Madosuki dictated to herself.

"Yes…I can just wake up if things get too…deranged."

Standing up, she walked over to the door that connected to the other doors, and hesitated momentarily, before pulling the door open, and stepping inside.

Once again, the quiet, empty room full of doors awaited her.

She paced about, looking at each of the doors, trying to find the one she had entered before. When she found it, she reached for the handle and pulled.

An unusual sensation passed through Madotsuki as she pulled.

A small smile slowly formed.

The sense that she was taking some kind of direction was…strangely calming.

Regardless of whatever happened next, she could always just leave. This was definitely better than sitting all alone in her room. Here, she had no idea what she would find. That thought was…kind of exciting.

Perhaps… Perhaps she could find something worthwhile here.

As the door opened, the small smile on her face faded.

She had once again forgotten about the spinning.


End file.
